"The Whole Car Went Silent": Trainee Creeps People Out With His Comments, Gets Himself Fired

Even though we often spend multiple hours of our days together, we tend not to know our coworkers that well. However, there are a select few individuals out there who seem to think that their weird and uncomfortable thoughts are universal and happily let the world know just how annoying they really are.

A salesman decided to take action when a new hire revealed himself to be creepy, sexist, and downright unprofessional, all on his first day. This trainee did not seem to think that making lewd comments about every single woman he encountered was something at all strange. We got in touch with disappointed_shrew to learn more.

Bored Panda got in touch with disappointed_shrew who wrote the story and got this individual fired. He was kind enough to answer some of our questions. First and foremost, we were curious to hear if there happened to be any updates to the story. “It happened about five years ago and I never saw him after he was fired,” he shared with us.

Naturally, we wanted to know OP’s opinion on why this guy didn’t seem to understand just how inappropriate his behavior was. “He thought it was fine because it was typical male behavior. To him, since men like having sex with women, he thought it was okay to talk about having sex with women.”

“As for the 14-year-old, he said when he realized she was 14 he wouldn't do anything, he thought it was tragic that she wasn't 18, but the fact that he kept talking about her, knowing she was 14, by saying the things he'd do if she wasn't 14, was still creepy,” he shared with Bored Panda. While a Devil's Advocate might be able to defend his previous, “locker room talk,” this was a clear step over the line of any sort of decency.

Some readers might have noticed that OP seemed to be the only one who actually took action regarding this guy. That being said, he acted so quickly that perhaps no one else even had a chance. Regardless, we were curious to hear disappointed_shrew’s opinion on how the other men in the car felt about the situation.

“I can't speak for how the others felt or what they'd do, but the silence in the car, after he talked about the 14-year-old, indicated that they were uncomfortable, and they agreed that he was creepy the next day after he got fired. Would they have said something if I didn't though? Who knows.” This last point is quite important. Not every creep makes their opinion known, for example. Some have the tact to stay quiet because they know that saying certain things will end up getting them in trouble.

It’s also notable that when OP brought up his concerns, it took the threat of quitting to make his boss actually consider action. While most organizations would state that this sort of behavior is unacceptable, it would seem that the boss was in no hurry to get rid of this liability. It took a threat to his profits that actually caused action.

So we wanted to hear OP’s take on this situation. “It was door-to-door sales, a very slimy industry. The authority that regulates the industry has the power to ban people from working in the industry, for any company, if they operate unethically. When that happens though, if that blacklisted person makes the company money, they'll just hire them under a different name. That's what the industry is like. If you can make them money, the bosses don't care,” he shared.

As horrible as this sounds, it does teach an important lesson. A company, boss, or manager is unlikely to be swayed by moral arguments. If you want to get your point across, your threats and arguments need to be backed up with more tangible risks.